Excerpt from Gems of the Centennial Exhibition

The history' of the Philadelphia Exposition evinced an admirable persistence in pushing it through, from its inception to its completion. Local enthusiasm, for a long time, was the sole motive power that drove its machinery. The assistance of the national Government and the sister States was given after a long period of distrust and neglect. This aid, if tardy, was in the end generous and hearty; and the enterprise advanced swiftly toward its consummation. The first recorded suggestion was that of Prof. John L. Campbell, of Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana, who, in a letter to the Hon. Morton mcmichael, then Mayor of Philadelphia, urged that the one-hundredth anniversary of the nation should be celebrated by an exhibition of the industries of all nations. This was submitted to leading citizens of Philadelphia, who decided that any action was, as yet, premature. In 1869 Prof. Campbell again wrote a letter, urging the matter with great earnestness, and the idea began to develop itself in a practical shape. Early in the following year the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, an institution devoted to the promotion of science and mechanics, took the initial steps by petitioning the municipal councils of the city to memorialize Congress on the subject - asking aid in establishing an international exhibition as the most suitable method of celebrating the centennial. Almost simultaneously with this the State Legislature passed a series of resolutions similar to those of the councils. In February, 1870, the Hon. William D. Kelley was the mouth-piece through which a joint memorial was presented to Congress, asking that an invitation, clothed with official power, should be issued to the nations of the world asking for their participation in the proposed exhibition. For a year the bill proposed by Mr. Daniel J. Mon'ill, the chairman of the House Committee on Manufactures, was strongly opposed for technical reasons, but finally passed in March, 1871, and received the signature of the President. It was successful, however, at the expense of the appropriation, which had been such a vital part. In virtue of its provisions, foreign nations were officially notified, and the Centennial Commission received existence by the appointment, on the part of the President, of two delegates from each State and Territory on the nomination of the Governors respectively.

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